“No Mom!” I pleaded, “Joy’s gonna get better!” I fought back the tears.
“Gretchen, she needs to see a veterinarian to get better, and that costs money. Unless it’s under twenty dollars, we can’t afford to pay for it.”
I knew this was true. Since my parents’ divorce, I had seen my mom come home every evening exhausted from work. The bills were pilling up on the kitchen table and my mom often had a worried look on her face.
“What if I can find a veterinarian that only costs twenty dollars?” I asked, hopefully.
“Well,” my mom said, “I suppose that would be all right. But honey, I doubt there is a clinic that would take care of her for so little.”
Despite my mom’s caution, the gears in my mind began to work, formulating a plan to save my kitten. I felt my mom’s eyes on me.
“Gretchen, you need to understand that animals don’t always get better. Sometimes there isn’t anything even a veterinarian can do. The vet may have to put her to sleep. That’s often the most humane thing to do for an animal who is suffering.”
I pursed my lips and wrinkled my brow. My heart hurt for my cat. I remembered Pumpkin, the tiny kitten that had died in my hands the summer before. It had been the worst thing in the world for me and I had cried for days. I shook my head. “No! I’ll find a way. There has to be a way to save her.”
A few weeks before, I had found my 3-month-old kitten, Joy, under the house. Her hind legs were paralyzed. No one knew what had happened. With the use of only her front legs, she could barely drag herself around the house. I had kept her in my room, cleaned up after her, fed her, cared for her. Sacrificing for my cat like this created a deep sense of compassion and love for her that I hadn’t yet had for other people thus far in my eleven years of life. I was fully invested in her recovery. I had done everything I could to help her get better and she wasn’t improving. When my mom told me she might have to be put to sleep, I was desperate for help.
That night, I prayed to Heavenly Father, Please help me find a veterinarian clinic that will fix my cat.
I curled up next to the small, warm, fury bundle in my bed, thinking about how badly I wanted Heavenly Father’s help. Joy’s soft purring motor relaxed me and I snuggled her closer. I remembered learning at church that fasting for something that you’re praying for shows Heavenly Father how sincere you are about it and calls down special help from Heaven. I decided that tomorrow I would fast for Joy to be healed.
The next day I woke up with Joy curled up by my legs and immediately remembered what I had decided to do. Recalling that I was supposed to begin my fast with a prayer, I knelt on my bed and told Heavenly Father that I was going to fast for Joy to be healed and that I needed his help to find a veterinarian that would fix her and wouldn’t charge us that much money.
After getting ready and feeding Joy and the rest of the cats, I walked to school. In the cool morning air, I felt happy and excited that somehow Joy was going to get better.
But by lunchtime, I was feeling hungry. In the cafeteria, everyone else was eating pizza, sandwiches, apples, and potato chips. I fought against the desire to eat and remembered my kitten. I told myself that it was only for today. I could do that.
I walked home after school with my friend, Lisa. I told her what I was doing and invited her to come help me call veterinarian clinics to find one that might help me.
Sitting down at the kitchen table with the phone book, we called a number of clinics listed in our area. All of them were too expensive. One clinic suggested we call the Humane Society but when we did, they couldn’t help either.
I hung up the phone. I had it in my hand as I was searching in the directory for the next clinic to call. I heard a voice coming from the receiver and held it up to my ear and said, “Hello?”
“The Cat Hospital, can I help you?” a voice said.
There was a moment of confusion. I hadn’t dialed the number. How did I get connected to the Cat Hospital? I told her my story: “Um…yeah, I have a kitten and her back legs are paralyzed. We don’t know what happened to her. We found her under the house like that. She goes to the bathroom all over the place and she can only drag around on her front paws. My mom says we can only afford twenty dollars to fix her. Can you take care of her for that much?”
The woman on the other end of the line said, “I see.” There was a pause. “Yes, we can take care of her.”
Shocked, I asked, “You can? You can fix her for only twenty dollars?”
“Yes, we can," she reassured me. "Can you bring her in today?”
“Today? Yeah! I mean, I’ll ask my mom. Thank you! Thank you so much!”
After getting the address and phone number, I hung up. I jumped up and down with Lisa in total happiness. Then, I ran upstairs to my bedroom where Joy was sleeping. I picked her up and squished her gently to me. It worked, I thought. It really worked. Joy was going to get better.
Somewhere in this story it dawned upon me that God was communicating with me. He was hearing me, was satisfied with my fast, and was answering my prayer.
We brought Joy to the Cat Hospital. The veterinarian discovered a blood clot in her spinal column. It was a condition called Thromboembolism or Saddle Thrombus.
Receiving daily treatments of medicine, Joy stayed at the clinic for more than two months and still the final charge was only twenty dollars.
I still remember the day when we brought her home. She could walk again! She always had a slight skip but other than that she grew normally. She had no other health problems and later, as an adult cat, she even had her own litter of kittens.
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